Ennead

Well, Grant, I’ve been back on FreeRice.com playing their game.

You remember that one, Donnie?

How are you getting anything done, Martha?

It’s not easy. It’s not easy, I tell you.

This is the website, FreeRice.com, where you can play these word games, and every time you make a point, they donate a grain of rice to World Hunger.

And it’s a fun little site and a great time waster.

But I was doing really, really well, and then I ran into a word that just stumped me.

You want to know what it is?

Really? Martha, that’s pretty rare that you get stumped, right?

Yeah, I had a whole bowl full of rice before this happened.

Oh, wait, they dump it out when you lose?

No, no, thank goodness.

No, you just go on to the next one, and you don’t feel too bright.

But the word is ennead, E-N-N-E-A-D, ennead.

E-N-N-E-A-D. Is it something related to a worm?

That’s a pretty good guess.

Ennead, E-N-N-E-A-D, is a group of nine.

A group of nine?

A group of nine.

It comes from the Greek word for nine, which I should have known.

But so the next time you’re out there in the park choosing size for a softball team, I can just hear you piping up, hey, do we have enough for an Ennead?

That’s a pretty nice word.

Well, you know, the way sports writers use all these different ways of saying the same thing, I’m surprised people haven’t talked about baseball teams that way.

It’s because they don’t play on an Enneagon.

That’s another name for a non-agon.

Is it really?

Yeah, a nine-sided figure.

Oh, you’re looking it up.

You’re looking it up.

Of course I am.

Of course.

All right.

The dictionary is my friend.

I’d tattoo it on my chest if it would only fit.

Well, we’d love to hear the words that you found and didn’t know because it’s interesting.

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